On October 1, 2008 the National Weather Service began issuing storm warnings for certain storms (instead of county-by-county). It may sound more complicated than it really is. So, here's the explanation:
The Old Way When severe weather is happening, the National Weather Service issued weather warnings by county. In this instance, two severe thunderstorms are shown. The storms are affecting Winnebago and Ogle County.
The New Way When severe weather is happening, the National Weather Service issues weather warnings that are storm-specific. In this instance, the storm moving through Winnebago County (farthest north), will only affect the northern 2/3 of the county. The thought is there's no reason to sound the alarm for the other 1/3. Likewise, in Ogle County, the severe thunderstorm is expected to move northeast through the southeast 1/4 of the county.
Now, here's the dilemma! Here at WREX-TV our first and foremost job is provide information during life-threatening situations. For decades we've broadcast the words "Severe Thunderstorm Warning for ____ County." I would venture a guess that 90% of the population knows what county they live in. That's all fine and dandy. If your county is under a warning, you judge whether you need to take action based on looking outside your window and looking at the radar on your television screen. However, there are many people that don't know what geographical location they're in within the county.
If we were to start doing storm-specific warnings, how would we make the information easy to understand? Most Rockfordians know where Perryville Road is. Can you tell based on these maps if the area around Cherry Vale Mall is under a warning? Probably not.
In addition, there are numerous areas in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin that are rural. With storm-specific warnings it would be impossible for people in rural areas to decipher whether they are affected.
Since we are the only station with true live live doppler radar, with the ability to pinpoint towns affected with the storm's ETA, we are going to keep doing what we're doing. Rest assured if a county goes under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning or Tornado Warning, we will put the information in the upper-left corner of your TV screen (with our exclusive county-by-county radar)...cut-in with more information...and use our live storm-tracker to pinpoint the ETA's.
More coming up tonight on 13News 10@10.
Read more about Storm-Based Warnings here.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
I like the idea of area warning instead of county wide. I believe it will make people aware of the area they live in plus be able to look out for there neighbor that might not know of a dangerous situation. There are some that get real nervous or paranoid when a county wide warning goes into effect. If you have a residence with elderly or handicap in it that have to take shelter for no reason this can get hard for a single care giver. Then when it comes time to issue a warning them that area it might not get taken serious. Just my two cents on this matter. Hopefully this will not have to get tested on Thurs.
Respectfully, W.R.
I remember hearing about this several months ago... I thought it went into affect immediately, but then it never happened. Sure it helps people to know exactly where the storm will hit, but is it really necessary? A lot of people won't know exactly where theyre located... and they might THINK that they're safe. I think the old way was fine... why fix what wasn't broken?
I think the concern about rural areas is misplaced. Most people in rural areas have lived there for years. There is not the "neighborhood turnover" in rural areas that there is in cities. You don't find apartment complexes in the countryside with people who move in and out on 6-month leases.
People in rural areas need to know "where they are" for a variety of reasons - for example, which fire or sheriff's department to call, and how to give directions to vendors, visitors, salespeople, emergency responders, etc. Having no handy "street address" inside a city limits is a fact of life that people in rural areas live with every day. Weather warnings are certainly not unique in that respect.
Not only that, but people in rural areas can't count on city warning sirens for weather warnings either. Most rural folks are pretty expert at reading the sky, and most have strategically placed NOAA weather radios all over the place, not to mention radar displays (from the web at least) in the barn, in the house, often even on the tractor, etc. Rural folks live and die by the weather FAR more than city folks every single day. They do not have problems "knowing where they are" in the world.
It seems like your main problem is figuring out how to display the TV graphics. I'm sure you'll figure something out.
Storm-based warnings rather than county based warnings are something that should have happened a long time ago. Many of these counties are huge, and a severe storm in the NW corner of the county heading ENE is not going to affect anyone anywhere near the SW corner of the county, but it WILL affect people in neighboring counties PDQ.
This is an idea whose time is long past and I'm glad they're finally doing it.
Many people probably don't remember the OLD severe storm warnings that used to be storm based (I'm thinking back to the 60's, 70's). The old radio-based warnings used to talk about warnings "along and XX miles either side of a line from A to B" and everybody would have to get out a map to figure out whether they were in the warned area or not. Hey, people adapted. We all had a closet with a state map hanging on the inside of the door and all the kids old enough to read knew how to listen to weather warnings and go look at the map to see whether they needed to be heading for the basement.
It works. People will adjust. You don't have to dumb down everything for people (especially "rural people") to be able to comprehend.
I won't have a problem figuring it out... I could be almost anywhere in the viewing area and if I heard a warning I would know if I was in the area. But you would be extremely shocked if you knew how many people dont know at all, and don't bother paying attention.
I hope more people like you all continue to post.
Since April (when I first learned that this system would be put into place) we discussed the implications of this. If we are to go with S.B. Warnings, how do we display the information on the screen? In addition, there are many warnings that aren't displayed as storm-based. For instance, there are Fog Advisories, Ice and Winter Storm Warnings that aren't "storm based."
As far as rural locations...I hate to say this, but when there is severe weather our attention immediately turns to the urban centers. That's not to say that we don't cover rural areas the same. I grew up in a rural part of Northern Illinois. But when a tornado is headed to Rockford, Freeport, Dixon, or Belvidere we need an easy to understand way of getting the information to those affected.
I am anxious to read more replies. Keep them coming!
Eric Sorensen
WREX-TV
I think county by county is better. Why fix what isn't broken. I do alot of traveling around Winnebago County and Rock County and I am not always sure what parts of the county I am in. With the county by county I know to be aware of what is going on in the sky. Keep up the awsome work. 13 is defintly Rockfords News Leader!!!
IS THERE A RADIO STATION THAT WOULD RELAY YOUR WEATHER UPDATES IN CASE ITS NOT POSSIBLE TO SIT @ A COMPUTER WHILE ALL THIS BAD WEATHER IS TAKING PLACE?
SERIOUSLY CONCERNED, I'M NOT A FAN OF TORNADOES.
I THINK THESE NEW WAY OF ISSUEING WATCHES AND WARNINGS IS GREAT, BUT STILL, STORMS CAN MOVE IN ANY DIRECTION AND CHANGE PATHS, SO I THINK THEY SHOULD JUST KEEP TO COUNTY WIDE WATCHES AND WARNINGS. I ALSO SUGGEST EVERONE TO GET A WEATHER RADIO AND IM ERIC CAN BACK ME UP ON THIS, THAT WEATHER RADIO'S ARE THE BEST TOOL WHEN IT COMES TO SEVERE WEATHER ESPICALLY LIKE THE EVENT THAT IS POSSIBLE ON THURSDAY. I THINK EVERY HOUSE HOLD SHOULD HAVE A WEATHER RADIO, IM SURE ERIC WOULD AGREE!
Anthony: I agree!
We are in Stephenson county and the easy way for us is to say "north of route 20 or south of route 20" We do keep an eye to the sky when the warnings are for Stephenson county, Ogle county or Winnebago county because German Valley is so close to all 3 and in the event of a true emergency our local fire dept has a great plan and practices it every spring.
"Since we are the only station with true live live doppler radar, with the ability to pinpoint towns affected with the storm's ETA, we are going to keep doing what we're doing."
Your radar comes out of Madison, WI, right?
Post a Comment